It appears to have been about the close of the tenth century that the
more curious and inquisitive spirits of Europe first had recourse to
the East as a source of such information and art, as they found most
glaringly deficient among their countrymen. We have seen that in
Persia there was an uninterrupted succession of professors in the art
of magic: and, when the followers of Mahomet by their prowess had
gained the superiority over the greater part of Asia, over all that
was known of Africa, and a considerable tract of Europe, they
gradually became awake to the desire of cultivating the sciences, and
in particular of making themselves masters of whatever was most
liberal and eminent among the disciples of Zoroaster. To this they
added a curiosity respecting Greek learning, especially as it related
to medicine and the investigation of the powers of physical nature.
Bagdad became an eminent seat of learning; and perhaps, next to Bagdad,
Spain under the Saracens, or Moors, was a principal abode for the
professors of ingenuity and literature.